June 8, 2004 - North Seymour

May and June are great months to come to the Galapagos because all of the sea birds are nesting. Virtually every blue-footed booby we saw on the island was sitting on eggs or chicks, and the ones that weren't were busy in courtship dances, which I had only seen hints of on previous trips. During the courtship ritual, a male booby will present a female with many gifts of sticks and small rocks. Then, the two birds stand near one another, sky-pointing and showing off the blueness of their feet (colorful blue = health). If the female accepts the male, they will eventually mate, but we were not fortunate enough to witness that. Also on the island were colorful yellow land iguanas and magnificent frigate birds, and the shrill sounds of juveniles crying for food could be heard almost constantly. Many of the male frigates were showing off their inflated red pouches while perched on nests they had already built.